Lal Bahadur Shastri, former Prime-Minister of India, was from a poor family that lived in a remote village. He used to go to a school across a river. Sometimes he would have no money for the boat ; on those days he would swim across. >br>
One day, when the young Lal Bahadur was swimming to school, a boat pulled up alongside and the boatman offerd to take him on board. Lal Bahadur explained that he had no money. The boatman laughed derisively and said, “Come on boy, I sometimes allow beggars free of cost”. Lal Bahadur continued to swim. >br>
This poor but self-respecting boy later on went on to become India’s Prime-Minister and a much loved one. Self-respect keeps us from self-destruction ; drinking excessively, having illicit relationships, gambling away fortunes, taking drugs and so on. Personally, I am so afraid of making a fool of myself and losing my self-respect that I am extra cautions about what I do. I keep on telling myself. “I cannot do this !” when temptations come my way. >br>
This quality should be inculcated in every child from childhood. “You cannot do this”. “You cannot lower yourself to this extent” ; “What would people think of you ?” “You are from a good family”. These are the usual cautionary message. Lord Krishna had similarly chided Arjuna when Arjuna was thinking of leaving the battlefield. Self respect is defined as pride in oneself, but in a positive sense. This is different from being self-righteous when one acts or feels as if one is always right. Having self-respect is also different from being an egotist, who thinks too much about himself. The measure of someone’s self-respect can be had from his or her speech, choice of clothes, manners, sincerity, punctuality, progress that person makes and the principles he or she upholds. Such self-respect forces us to do the right things ; prevent us from cheating and breaking laws ; protects us from getting tempted and keeps us out of debt ! If we respect ourselves, others are likely to respect us, too. >br>